The 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Final was a beach soccer match which took place on 1 December 2019 at Los Pynandi World Cup Stadium in Luque, Paraguay, to determine the winners of the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. It was the final and hence the last match of the 10th FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, a biennial competition contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA.
As the fourth all-European final (following 2001, 2005 and 2013), the match pitted the European champions of 2018 and 2019 respectively against each other: Italy, who had previously competed in one World Cup final, in 2008, and Portugal, who appeared in their third FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup final and their sixth overall when taking into account the pre-FIFA era Beach Soccer World Championships; their last appearance was four years prior in 2015.
In what was seen as an evenly contested affair, Portugal emerged as victors thanks to a series of successful free kicks, clinching the match by six goals to four to win their second FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup crown (following 2015) and third world title overall (including success in the 2001 World Championship), condemning Italy to a second runners-up medal. The match was also notable as the 583rd and final international beach soccer appearance of Madjer; the Portuguese captain, often hailed as the best player of all-time, announced his retirement immediately following the match.
Background World Cup history comparison Both nations are veterans at World Cups, with Portugal missing only one and Italy, two, since their debuts (1997 and 1995 respectively). The former had had considerably more success than the latter.
During the World Championships era, Portugal became champions in 2001 and finished on the podium a further four times (1999, 2002, 2003, 2004). Since the FIFA era began, Portugal have fared relatively similarly, winning the 2015 title, finishing as runners-up in 2005 and earning bronze medals three times (2008, 2009, 2011). This was Portugal's third FIFA final and sixth overall. Italy's best finish of the World Championships was a single bronze medal, in 1996. Italy reached their first final during the FIFA era in 2008, when they lost to Brazil 5–3, and this remained their only podium finish of this era until now. This was Italy's second World Cup final. However, more recently, after neither team qualified for 2013, Italy had reached the semi-finals of the last two editions, one better than their Iberian opponents.
2019 season comparison +Season comparison summaryCompetitionWorld Games qual. 3rd 7th European Games 5th 1stEuro BS League 4th 1stWorld Cup qual. 2nd 5thMediterranean Games 1st 2ndWorld Games 4th Both teams had enjoyed generally successful seasons but not without some negatives. As European nations, they had competed in many of the same events.
Portugal failed in qualification for the World Beach Games, but compensated for this disappointment by claiming the gold medal at the European Games and becoming six-time European champions at the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL). Despite reaching this final, they narrowly qualified for the World Cup in July, finishing in the final qualification spot, but also won the silver medal at the Mediterranean Beach Games. Portugal were world ranked 4th going into the match.
Italy went into the season as reigning European champions having won the 2018 EBSL and began the year by qualifying for the World Beach Games, where they went on to lose to Iran in the bronze medal match. They only managed a fifth-place finish at the European Games, but claimed fourth in the EBSL and second place in qualification for the World Cup. The Mediterranean Beach Games was their most successful event, where they claimed the gold medal. Italy was world-ranked 3rd going into the match.
Previous matches At World Cups The teams had gone head-to-head three times previously at World Cups, twice during the World Championships era and once in the FIFA era. The three meetings are documented below: DateTournamentRoundResult16 January 20022002 Beach Soccer World ChampionshipsGroup stageItaly 4–6 Portugal7 March 20042004 Beach Soccer World ChampionshipsThird place matchPortugal 5–1 Italy21 July 20082008 FIFA Beach Soccer World CupGroup stagePortugal 5–4 Italy Total wins 0 3
Recent results (all competitions) The teams had already met on three previous occasions in 2019, with Italy winning two, however Portugal had won the most recent contest. Before then, the teams had not clashed for over two years. However, overall, the two teams had met 48 times previously. The last five meetings are documented in the below table:
DateTournamentRoundResult11 September 20162017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiersThird place matchItaly 3–8 Portugal9 July 20172017 Euro Beach Soccer League Stage 2Group stagePortugal 8–5 Italy26 July 20192019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiersQuarter-finalsPortugal 3–4 Italy31 August 20192019 Mediterranean Beach GamesGold medal matchItaly 7–5 Portugal7 September 20192019 Euro Beach Soccer League SuperfinalGroup stagePortugal 8–6 ItalyTotal wins 2 3
Road to the final ItalyRoundPortugalOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResult12–4Match 110–13–4Match 27–96–2Match 33–1 Group B winners Team320012110+116320019906320011617−2630003313−100Final standings Group D runners-up Team330002911+189320012011+9631002916−7330003828−200OpponentResultKnockout stageOpponentResult5–4Quarter-finals4–28–7 Semi-finals3–3 , (2–1 pens.)
Match Summary Period one began with Portugal on the offensive and Italy on the defensive, the latter's style compared to the Catenaccio tactics classically used by their national football team. Hence, the Portuguese were the team creating the goal-scoring opportunities and dominating play, but on six minutes, Italy scored against the run of play – after a shot from Madjer (Portugal's twelfth of the match), Corosiniti played a ball through the middle to Zurlo who slotted home Italy's first shot of the match. 90 seconds later, Chiavaro fouled Leo Martins up against the touchline, just outside the Italian penalty area. The Portuguese smashed his free kick into the bottom left hand corner to equalise the score. Portugal continued to dominate, having over 70% possession of the ball, but Italy began creating opportunities of their own as the period neared its end. After an injury timeout following Corosiniti and Belchior's clash, the period concluded with the score still level at 1–1.
The second period started with a more even spread of chances for both teams. Del Mestre was forced into good saves from Jordan and then Be Martins, whilst, Gori and Zurlo saw their free kicks go narrowly wide for Italy. In the sixth minute, the deadlock was broken. Leo Martins won possession just inside his own half and lead Portugal on a quick counterattack, ultimately squaring the ball to an unmarked Jordan in the middle who fired home at the edge of the box. 30 seconds after the restart, Jordan won a long-range free kick, with his effort saved by a diving Del Mestre. However, the Italian mistakenly parried the ball back into the centre of the box; with the goal left undefended, Lourenço pounced onto the loose ball for a tap in, putting Portugal up 3–1. Despite the two goal gap, the game remained balanced as the second half of period two progressed; Leo Martins wasted a great chance, a one-on-one opportunity against the goalkeeper, shooting wide.
Jordan converted a powerful free kick from the centre of the pitch during the opening stages of period three to open up a 4–1 lead for Portugal. This deficit saw Italy become more offensive to try and bridge the gap. One minute later, Jordan was guilty of a foul on Gori, conceding a penalty, but the Italian's spot kick attempt was saved by Andrade. The attacking play of Italy began opening up more spaces for Portugal to exploit. Soon after, Leo Martins completed a brace from a free kick given away by Marinai just outside the Italian box, extending the Portuguese lead to 5–1 with just eight minutes left on the clock. Protests surrounding the foul lead to a flurry of yellow cards, for Jordan, Del Mestre and Chiavaro. After a Corosiniti effort hit the post, Italy scored two goals inside the 31st minute. First a one-two between Zurlo and Ramacciotti saw the latter slotting past Andrade at close range. And then from Ramacciotti's corner, Josep Junior ran from deep to head in at the back post for 5–3, reigniting the match as a contest, seeing Portugal take a more cautious approach into the final minutes. Gori almost made it 5–4 with two minutes left, hitting a bicycle kick against the post, but a controversial foul by Ramacciotti mere seconds later (for which he was booked) allowed Jordan to complete his hat-trick via the free kick. Italy's remaining efforts proved futile, save for a final attempt by Ramacciotti through Andrade's legs mere seconds from full time. But the goal bothered Portugal not as they knew they had won the game , and as the last seconds ticked by, the TV cameras were already focused on Madjer on the Portuguese bench who had begun crying.
Details
Starting line up: GK 1 Simone Del Mestre MF 2 Josep JuniorDF 4 Alfioluca Chiavaro MF 7 Dario Ramacciotti FW 10 Gabriele GoriSubstitutes:FW 3 Marcello Percia Montani MF 5 Alessio Frainetti MF 6 Simone Marinai DF 8 Francesco Corosiniti (c) FW 9 Emmanuele Zurlo MF 11 Paolo Palmacci GK 12 Andrea Carpita Manager: Emiliano Del DucaStarting line up: GK 12 Elinton AndradeDF 2 Rui CoimbraMF 5 Jordan Santos MF 8 Bê MartinsFW 11 Léo MartinsSubstitutes:GK 1 Tiago PetronyDF 3 André Lourenço DF 4 Bruno Torres MF 6 Rúben Brilhante MF 7 Madjer (c) FW 9 João Gonçalves FW 10 Belchior Manager: Mário Narciso Key: – substitute came on during the game – booked Second referee: Said Hachim (Madagascar) Third referee: Ingilab Mammadov (Azerbaijan) Timekeeper: Sofien Benchabane (France) Reserve assistant referee: Suhaimi Mat Hassan (Malaysia) Match commissioner: Paria Shahriyari (Iran) General coordinator: Josep Ponset (Spain)Match rules: 36 minutes; 3 periods of 12 minutes. 3 minutes of extra time if scores level. Best of 3 penalty shoot-out if scores still level. 7 substitutes named, of which all may be used; rolling substitutions.
Statistics Stat Goals scored 4 6Total shots 45 44Shots on target 18 17Shots off target 17 17Shots blocked 10 10Shots against woodwork 2 0Ball possession 46% 54%Overhead kicks 7 8 Corner kicks 10 4Fouls committed 7 9 Yellow cards 3 2Red cards 0 0Penalties (scored) 1 (0) 0 (0)Attempts from free kicks 5 7Own goals 0 0
Post-match Tournament awards
When the individual awards were presented at the conclusion of the final, players of the final's competing teams, Italy and Portugal, mopped up those on offer, claiming five of the seven available. Italy's Gabriele Gori and Emmanuele Zurlo won the Golden and Silver Scorer awards respectively, whilst Portugal's Jordan Santos, Bê Martins and Elinton Andrade won the Silver, Bronze Balls and Golden Glove awards respectively.
Quotes from participants Players and staff made analytic comments to the media after the match, including:
Italian silver shoe winner, Emmanuele Zurlo: I am really proud of my team-mates. In the end, we have the bitterness of not having won the final, it will always be there, the truth is that we had a great tournament and we need to be happy to have gone all the way to the final. We’ve shown the world what kind of team Italy is, that we are capable of beating anyone, but in the end Portugal were deserved champions and were better.
Portuguese coach, Mário Narciso: